We are now more than two-thirds into the 2015/2016 season, and from a Spartak Moscow perspective, it is starting to look like many others. The Red-Whites are currently ranked seventh in the league, eight points behind league leaders Rostov, and four points behind Zenit in fourth place, which grants qualification for Europa League. Following last week’s 2-0 defeat to FC Rostov, captain Artyom Rebrov said: “The current situation is difficult, the club evolving here and there in the rankings.” Year after year, Spartak find themselves trailing behind the league leaders at this point, and missing out on European football.
Part of the reason for this is that the Red-Whites have won just one game against a side from the top five in the league (1-0 at home against Rostov). Spartak are simply too weak and unstable to remain in the fight for where the fun is. So does Spartak have the level to compete in Europe?
The game against Rostov was a real test for Alenichev’s men, given the fact that they are currently leading the league and defeated Spartak’s arch rivals CSKA not ago, and so we will take a closer look at what went wrong for the People’s Team.
Rostov starting line-up:
Alenichev surprised with a 5-1-3-1 line-up. The last time Alenichev used this formation was against Terek in November last year, when Spartak lost 2-1. Because of the few attacking minded players in the line-up and the therefore defensive approach, Spartak’s loyal supporters aren’t happy with this formation. However, Alenichev had his reasons as Quincy Promes and Ze Luis, his two biggest offensive stars, both returned with minor injuries from the international break.
Spartak starting line-up:
In just the second minute of the game, Rostov opened the scoring. After a free kick from the left side of Spartak’s half Rostov defender Bastos headed the home side 1-0 in front. Although in a slight offside position, the defender was wide open thanks to horrible marking by the Spartak defenders. This is far from the first time Spartak have looked bad when defending set pieces this season.
Despite the early goal, Spartak played well during the first 20 minutes, and the Red-Whites produced the opportunities needed to get back in the game; First, Melgarejo hit the post, and then Zotov had an awful miss on the rebound. Later, Promes missed an open goal.
While Spartak were putting pressure on the home side, Rostov did what they do best - they counter attacked. With their second chance in the game, Poloz, from an offside position, crossed the ball to Christian Noboa who headed Rostov 2-0 up against a helpless Rebrov.
After the goal, Rostov were happy to just sit back and defend their lead, while also trying to hit Spartak with counter attacks. Spartak tried to get back into the game, but failed to really test Dzhanaev in Rostov’s goal.
A lack of creativity
And that is exactly the problem - the lack of dangerous actions from Spartak, caused by a lack of creativity. Being down 2-0 after just 20 minutes, Alenichev chose to replace defender Evgeniy Makeev with Bulgarian playmaker Ivelin Popov after 37 minutes, but besides him Spartak had very little offensive fire power on the bench. Unfortunately for Alenichev, Georgian winger Jano Ananidze was sidelined with a fever, but he could have looked for replacements from Spartak’s second team who are currently fifth in the FNL, the Russian second tier. Here, he could for example have given Dmitriy Kayumov, who has scored five goals this season, a chance to bring the freshness and creativity that is sorely lacking at the moment.
As stated earlier, Melgarejo and Promes were the only offensive players lining up, and while they both had good chances to score, neither of them are on the same level as in the first half of the season. Melgarejo is yet to be fully integrated into Spartak’s tactical scheme, and Promes wasn’t at his peak physically after he was injured in a friendly for the Netherlands.
Defensively, Spartak also looked poor. Vladimir Granat has often been criticized, but building a defence around Bocchetti also seems worrying. Speaking of the two full backs, neither Kombarov nor Parshivlyuk brought enough offensively against Rostov. In fact, Kombarov received a stupid and unnecessary red card, which will keep him sidelined for the important games against Kuban and Zenit. At the moment, Spartak’s defence is simply too vulnerable and makes too many mistakes to compete with the best teams.
Alenichev, a good coach for Spartak?
The players are however not the only ones to blame. As written earlier, Alenichev made some surprising choices regarding the formation. After the game, the former Champions League winner told the press that Popov wasn’t ready to play a full match because of fatigue after the national team break, but I don’t see the big difference between starting the game and then bringing him on in the 37th minute.
“Either Alenichev doesn’t explain the players some elementary things, which I doubt” famous Russian football writer Igor Rabiner wrote on Sport-Express after the game, “Or he explains, but for some reason they don’t listen to him. Why? Again there are two possibilities: Either the players don’t understand the words, or there is no more authority and no words can change that. So if no words from many coaches aren’t changing anything, perhaps not only Alenichev is responsible, but also the players.”
Even though Spartak can still qualify for European football, Alenichev’s position is currently under question, and his opponent from last weekend Kurban Berdyev has been mooted to succeed him.
But can Berdyev actually improve Spartak? Berdyev needs the trust from the club as well as the liberty to implement his philosophy and build up the team. At Spartak, Berdyev would receive the freedom he currently has at Rostov, as Spartak have many actors from the club’s glorious past placed in the administrational structure starting with general director Sergey Rodionov. It is however worth noticing, that Konstantin Beskov’s success in the 1980’s proved that coaches coming from outside Spartak can also succeed at the Red-Whites.
But Berdyev at Spartak could make it better? This coach needs the confidence of the club and the liberty to build up his philosophy. But in Spartak, Berdyev would not have the freedom he has now in Rostov. Many personalities from the history of the club are in place in the organizational structure of Spartak starting by Rodionov. However, the example of Konstantin Beskov in the 80’s also shows that coach from outside the club with strong character were able to succeed at Spartak.
Since the departure of legendary coach Oleg Romantsev in 2003, Spartak have had 11 different head coaches, and with the misfires of Michael Laudrup, Unai Emery and Murat Yakin, Spartak now prefer a man of the house, someone who knows the club. With that in mind, Alenichev seemed like the perfect candidate, although he lacked a bit of experience. Now, eight months later, the fans are disappointed with the results and (lack of) game philosophy Alenichev has implemented in the squad.
It is however still too early to draw any conclusions. With eight rounds yet, Spartak are just a few points behind Zenit, but with away games against both Zenit and Lokomotiv remaining, the Red-Whites will need to finally start beating the better placed sides, otherwise we might see the summer of 2015 repeating itself with the club looking for both new players as well as coaching staff.
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